Empty chairs at empty tables
by charliespike18
Summary: A plane is on fire. It burns and burns and then falls out of the sky. A beat, another, then a third - a waltz for the happy couple. No one realises that it could be a waltz for the dead. Somewhere, a baby cries. The music has now stopped, cut and left unfinished. - The village in the direct aftermath of 2x06.


A plane is on fire. It burns and burns and then falls out of the sky. A beat, another, then a third - a waltz for the happy couple. No one realises that it could be a waltz for the dead. Somewhere, a baby cries. The music has now stopped, cut and left unfinished. Everything moves in slow motion and all that can be heard is the thud of footsteps running and running. Someone shouts, another starts crying. A child has to been held back, playtime over.

A plane is on fire.

Someone rushes forward, Nick or Spencer or Tom but another calls, wary of the flames, so they watch for a moment; a heartbeat that seems to last a life time. Someone remarks on the baby, wailing into the afternoon air and then, where congratulations and well wishes should be, someone starts crying again. There is silence save the flames and the child, no tell tale calls for help or pleas for safety, but then twin footsteps are beating a tattoo on the road, and the observers observe again.

It burns and burns.

It is organised quickly, men rushing to places to get things and then it all starts to flicker, moving faster and faster until Nick is battling his way through and Spencer is dousing the place in a waterfall. Teresa calls out, warning her heartbeat of a husband to be careful as Sarah watches in silence. Steph helps, moving rubble but she's in shock. The whole village is. Laura and David, their twin steps halted, stare at the wreckage. "Kate," she whispers. "Someone needs to get Kate."

It fell out of the sky.

Someone tells him about his mother and his father; the same person informs her the same. David sits, but no tears come. Frances places a hand on his arm, but says nothing. There is nothing she can say. Pat's heart breaks in the chaos, until Stan, little Stan, appears - trucks of Czechs following his faltering frame and for a moment, her heart stops. Nick appears, cradling a baby, and heads for David, first, but then changes his mind - the tears are finally falling. Sarah takes the baby, a boy, from Nick and their eyes meet for a moment; just a second and the trust - innate and true - is back.

Marek moves quickly, mobilising his men like there are in a battlefield. He does not turn to look for her, yet, he knows she is there. Teresa stares at her husband, still so unfamiliar to her, as he tells Tom, Marek - anyone who'll listen - the list of those trapped. It sounds far too like the list of the dead to Steph. The baby has stopped crying, Sarah cooing and rocking him - an action that has stopped both their tears. Frances wonders how any of the last year has happened as she pulls Noah closer and the name Joyce Cameron is lost to the wind.

There are soldiers moving the plane, the fire now out thanks to Spencer. Alison holds Teresa as one of the Czech soldiers calls something none of them can understand. "Tento muž je mrtvý," he calls. "Tento muž je mrtvý." Marek turns to the spectators, translator for a moment.  
"He says, that a man is dead."

"Who?" someone shouts. "Who?" the refrain sings. "Who?" three times, like the beat of a waltz.

Sarah looks down at the baby and then over at her sister and there is a moment, a flicker, of a different life. Children for each of them, a war that never happened, two husbands who aren't dead or as good as. Just a flicker, though, and then her attention is on the house again - the carnage. Its like the front has come right to them.

Claire holds her husband as Marek appears again, framed in the door way - a body held in his arms. In the distance, sirens start wailing. Laura rushes over, but David remains where he is - gaze far away, a boy who has already seen too much death. Marek moves slowly, but decisively and lays the man on the ground. Then his face is clear to see; Will. Laura cries then, even though her father's death was coming - but it wasn't supposed now, she thinks - they were supposed to still have time.  
But, it seems, time is a cruel master when war is involved.

Pat feels a hand on her arm and turns, heart beating fast and expecting Bob, a laugh falling from his lips. But it's Alison, Teresa slightly behind. They whisper something about Bob still being at the hall, too tired to get up. Too angry, more like, she thinks. Steph helps a Czech man shroud Will, still aware that the toll could increase until the dead line the street.

Laura cries for her mother, fate unknown, and her father, lying on the cold ground. She prays for Kate, reminded of the stairs and the man who told them about Jack. Her sister shouldn't have to lose everyone, not like this. She shouldn't. She sits with David again, a hand taken and held while the soldiers continue to work. The village is certainly not quiet anymore.

Nick falls out the door, supporting a crying Miriam. She pitches, falls back then stumbles forward. Sarah cradles her son and looks to David. Nick sits Mim down and turns to the road, happy to see the ambulance winding its way towards them. "Bryn," she chokes. "The baby, David." she cries, the names of those she loves tumbling from her lips. "Help me."

David holds her as she weeps, the baby still in Sarah's arms. Miriam is bleeding from a head wound, shaking from the shock. She is places in an ambulance and David is handed his little brother.

The Czechs have moved the plane, a hole apparent in the house. Frances sees Joyce, lying on the ground - a Czech leaning over her. "Is she okay?" she calls, Noah's hand still clamped in hers. "Is she?"

"This woman?" the Czech calls. "Ona je naživu" he says. "Alive."

Nick goes over to his wife, taking a moment away from the wreck. Sarah stands near and Nick looks between the two of them. He hugs Teresa and then goes back inside. Erica is pulled from the house by Marek, eyes shut - but walking on unsteady legs. Laura runs to her, embracing her and the two women cry for the man lying under the sheet.

A stretcher comes for Mrs Cameron, two ambulance workers pushing their way through and Czech soldiers lifting her to safety. They find Bryn later, lying under the rubble, never to meet his son.  
They don't tell Miriam, not yet. She and David are gone, whisked away to the hospital. Teresa and Alison listen as Nick tells them about Bryn, how he found him, how he now lies with Will.

Later, when Steph goes to the hospital, she sees as Miriam's heart falls, the heartbreak palpable. She sees David, a broken man at his best, break just that little bit more. She meets the son, too, a little boy who will never have a father.  
Teresa holds her husband, who has been her husband for so little time, and thinks that, to her, whole world is ending, piece by piece, life by life. She can hear more sirens in the distance; a beat, then another and third; a waltz.  
A waltz for the dead.


End file.
